Parkrun..

robinph · 13-06-2020 6:59pm

Amongst the family I think I've bought 3 apricot tshirts, a water bottle, 5 wrist bands, 5 different types of other barcode... And have received 7 free tshirts and 500+ free timed 5km runs and multiple excuses to visit places we'd otherwise never have considered going.

Think that's a pretty good deal personally.

Edit: forgot there was a book and another couple of casual tshirts I've bought as well.

Annie get your Run · 14-06-2020 4:20pm

TaurenDruid wrote: »

Yeah, that's the thing. If I do get one of these, it'll be a one-off - likely a Christmas or birthday present. But if they were a more normal price - say €15 or €20 - I'd happily have a couple in my wardrobe. And I'd happily re-buy replacements for my older milestone tees. They'd get more money out of me is the point.

I mean, I've got race entry, a technical top, a medal and a goodie bag for half what they're charging, and that money was also going to a good cause.

My biggest problem with the apricot T's is their colour, not a good look on anyone in the northern hemisphere ðŸ˜³ unless you're lucky enough to have sallow skin - what were they thinking!!!

I have bought a water bottle and some barcodes though and a couple of Contra items which also supports parkrun.

ThebitterLemon · 14-06-2020 6:17pm

Annie get your Run wrote: »

My biggest problem with the apricot T's is their colour, not a good look on anyone in the northern hemisphere ðŸ˜³ unless you're lucky enough to have sallow skin - what were they thinking!!!

I have bought a water bottle and some barcodes though and a couple of Contra items which also supports parkrun.

AMK bought 2 dozen of them

TbL

robinph · 14-06-2020 10:24pm

A new parkrun map that someone has created where you can easily add simple ratings about different courses such as if the are dog friendly, suitable for buggies, pb courses, etc.

https://wangy.co.uk/parkstats/buggy

Shedite27 · 15-06-2020 7:30am

robinph wrote: »

A new parkrun map that someone has created where you can easily add simple ratings about different courses such as if the are dog friendly, suitable for buggies, pb courses, etc.

https://wangy.co.uk/parkstats/buggy

They've one Dublin Parkrun marked as buggy friendly - Poolbeg

py · 15-06-2020 7:32am

Shedite27 wrote: »

They've one Dublin Parkrun marked as buggy friendly - Poolbeg

It's a crowd sourced map. If you think there are more, which I'm sure there are, add it to the map.

robinph · 15-06-2020 9:44am

py wrote: »

It's a crowd sourced map. If you think there are more, which I'm sure there are, add it to the map.

Yep, and I think the site only went live a day ago so needs time for people to add their ratings for different events. But the more people who add their ratings the better it becomes.

There is also the option of putting comments in, although I've not yet on my ratings, as one persons opinion of what is a buggy friendly course, or a pb course, could be totally different from someone else.

crisco10 · 15-06-2020 11:04am

robinph wrote: »

Yep, and I think the site only went live a day ago so needs time for people to add their ratings for different events. But the more people who add their ratings the better it becomes.

There is also the option of putting comments in, although I've not yet on my ratings, as one persons opinion of what is a buggy friendly course, or a pb course, could be totally different from someone else.

I added some ratings and was thinking this. My rating for a buggy where I'm going ~20min pace, could be very different to someone trying to graduate a C25k plan.

jimmii · 15-06-2020 1:07pm

Posted on my local one. It's an easy one for buggy use as it's not allowed! I would imagine you would be doing well to get round in an hour if it were allowed very rough conditions!

rainbow kirby · 15-06-2020 1:57pm

Filled in most of the Manchester ones that hadn't already been filled in. Surprised that nobody had added anything for pancake flat Alexandra or Stretford!

robinph · 16-06-2020 11:58am

So parkrun is now confirmed to restart in New Zealand on 4th July as expected:

https://blog.parkrun.com/nz/2020/06/16/covid-19-coronavirus-update-16-june/

My predictions, without knowing a whole lot about individual other country stats, would be Australia around September and possibly Japan around the same time. Possibly Singapore as well.

Can't see South Africa, Europe or the US/ Canada starting up until next year...and that will also then need a relaxation of parkruns "everything back to normal" stance for any of those territories to open. I can't see how any individual parkrun Europe territory can open at a different time to all the others. If Germany restarts because they are clear for example, and they open Ryanair/ Easyjet flights, and there is no quarantine (how would it be enforced anyway?) but parkrun UK doesn't restart... parkrun UK tourists head over and all the bad publicity of UK people travelling and transmitting the virus then gets landed on parkrun as well.

parkrun can't risk being the reason that people start travelling around Europe.

TaurenDruid · 16-06-2020 1:27pm

robinph wrote: »

Can't see South Africa, Europe or the US/ Canada starting up until next year...and that will also then need a relaxation of parkruns "everything back to normal" stance for any of those territories to open. I can't see how any individual parkrun Europe territory can open at a different time to all the others. If Germany restarts because they are clear for example, and they open Ryanair/ Easyjet flights, and there is no quarantine (how would it be enforced anyway?) but parkrun UK doesn't restart... parkrun UK tourists head over and all the bad publicity of UK people travelling and transmitting the virus then gets landed on parkrun as well.

parkrun can't risk being the reason that people start travelling around Europe.

You don't think an appeal to people's better natures from parkrun central would work?

I know parkrun tourism is a (huge!) thing but generally it'd be tied in to at least a long weekend. Might be an issue for parkruns close to a border or close to an airport, but I'd be hopeful most of us wouldn't be idjits about it.

robinph · 16-06-2020 1:37pm

TaurenDruid wrote: »

You don't think an appeal to people's better natures from parkrun central would work?

I know parkrun tourism is a (huge!) thing but generally it'd be tied in to at least a long weekend. Might be an issue for parkruns close to a border or close to an airport, but I'd be hopeful most of us wouldn't be idjits about it.

Most wouldn't be eejits, but there are enough parkrun tourists that are more important than anyone else such that the moment Ryanair open flights to a location holding parkrun they will be on the flight...and it only takes one of them to then test +ve for bad publicity to follow for parkrun. There was a lot of effort that went in to limit the impact of a plane load of tourists on the launch of parkrun Nedtherlands so they had 6 events starting at the same time and didn't start the Amsterdam one until a week later so as to spread the load.

Think there would just be too many people deprived of parkrun in the UK who wouldn't be able to help themselves if Germany was to restart and there was no signs of a UK restart this year.

Pherekydes · 16-06-2020 2:44pm

What about a short term rule of Home Parkrun Only?

robinph · 16-06-2020 3:06pm

Pherekydes wrote: »

What about a short term rule of Home Parkrun Only?

Not enforceable really, although I guess they could threaten to delete any results afterwards if not at your home event and prevent you changing it temporarily. Mine is set to be a juniors event though.

Could put a block on any events outside of your home country I guess and that wouldn't cause any ructions, except between NI/ Ireland and possibly Sweden/ Denmark. Or just prevent any UK/ Ireland profiles running any events in the rest of the EU and that would stop the vast majority of any international tourism issues.

Seannew1 · 16-06-2020 3:12pm

robinph wrote: »

So parkrun is now confirmed to restart in New Zealand on 4th July as expected:

https://blog.parkrun.com/nz/2020/06/16/covid-19-coronavirus-update-16-june/

My predictions, without knowing a whole lot about individual other country stats, would be Australia around September and possibly Japan around the same time. Possibly Singapore as well.

Can't see South Africa, Europe or the US/ Canada starting up until next year...and that will also then need a relaxation of parkruns "everything back to normal" stance for any of those territories to open. I can't see how any individual parkrun Europe territory can open at a different time to all the others. If Germany restarts because they are clear for example, and they open Ryanair/ Easyjet flights, and there is no quarantine (how would it be enforced anyway?) but parkrun UK doesn't restart... parkrun UK tourists head over and all the bad publicity of UK people travelling and transmitting the virus then gets landed on parkrun as well.

parkrun can't risk being the reason that people start travelling around Europe.

I still feel optimistic that we may have a return to parkrun events in autumn. That is if cases of the virus continue to be suppressed and social distancing can be done at the start and finish lines.

robinph · 16-06-2020 3:34pm

Seannew1 wrote: »

I still feel optimistic that we may have a return to parkrun events in autumn. That is if cases of the virus continue to be suppressed and social distancing can be done at the start and finish lines.

In the absence of any major marathon events to take the heat off parkrun I think they won't make a move until a few weeks after premiership level football returns anywhere in Europe, or something with similar sized crowds. If football comes back but with people only sitting in every other seat for instance then parkrun will remain off.

Kerry Gooner · 17-06-2020 11:16am

robinph wrote: »

In the absence of any major marathon events to take the heat off parkrun

Bit of a step up there

robinph · 17-06-2020 11:36am

Kerry Gooner wrote: »

Bit of a step up there

I mean in terms of the bad imagery surrounding a few photos of runners grouped together at the start of a run. Much like the ones of people at beaches/ protests/ Primark over the last few weeks that then get splashed across social media/ newspapers and we are then told about the impending second wave. parkrun needs to not be the first sporting event to have those photos appearing anywhere, so needs a crowd at a football stadium or waiting to run a marathon to take that publicity hit.

Cape Clear · 17-06-2020 11:45am

robinph wrote: »

Think there would just be too many people deprived of parkrun in the UK who wouldn't be able to help themselves if Germany was to restart and there was no signs of a UK restart this year.

Seems like a whole load of effort to go to for the sake of a 5k run. Each to their own I guess.

robinph · 17-06-2020 11:52am

Cape Clear wrote: »

Seems like a whole load of effort to go to for the sake of a 5k run. Each to their own I guess.

Yep, but there are people who fly half way round the world in order to run at the first parkrun in Japan, or find a friend with a private pilots license to fly them to a parkrun on the other side of the country that is actually around an airfield so they can be the first to fly directly to an event and get their landing fees refunded by the airfield, or have to go extreme distances in order to run an event starting with a particular letter of the alphabet.

There is a whole other level of obsession out there, which you are probably best of not knowing about.

opus · 17-06-2020 11:53am

Cape Clear wrote: »

Seems like a whole load of effort to go to for the sake of a 5k run. Each to their own I guess.

From listening to the various parkrun podcasts I've gotten the impression that parkrun tourists in the UK are a lot more obsessive than here (could be 100% wrong of course!). One of the presenters of With Me Now seems to spend every Sat crisscrossing the UK for example.

robinph · 17-06-2020 11:55am

opus wrote: »

From listening to the various parkrun podcasts I've gotten the impression that parkrun tourists in the UK are a lot more obsessive than here (could be 100% wrong of course!). One of the presenters of With Me Now seems to spend every Sat crisscrossing the UK for example.

...and Danny Norman isn't even close to being the most crazily obsessive about parkruns and different little unique niches.

rainbow kirby · 17-06-2020 1:27pm

robinph wrote: »

...and Danny Norman isn't even close to being the most crazily obsessive about parkruns and different little unique niches.

There are some quite scary people out there! :eek:

I've done a whole pile of tourism but was really getting to enjoy being at my local ones regularly before lockdown hit.

Sunny Dayz · 17-06-2020 4:31pm

robinph wrote: »

I can't see how any individual parkrun Europe territory can open at a different time to all the others. If Germany restarts because they are clear for example, and they open Ryanair/ Easyjet flights, and there is no quarantine (how would it be enforced anyway?) but parkrun UK doesn't restart... parkrun UK tourists head over and all the bad publicity of UK people travelling and transmitting the virus then gets landed on parkrun as well.

parkrun can't risk being the reason that people start travelling around Europe.

I think this is a real risk. From listing to the UK parkrun podcasts and the parkrun discussion facebook page - there are many in the UK who are parkrun obssessed and uber tourists. I think plenty will use it as an excuse to travel.

I also think if parkrun restarts somewhere in Europe that is not the UK, then I think many parkrunners in the UK will have their noses out of joint because, and this is the impression I get reading between the lines, that parkrun is first and foremost a UK thing because it started there, because Bushy is the "home" of parkrun. And I think there will be a few who would be peeved off if the UK was one of the last countries to restart. But not fair to hold up other countries cos the UK wants to be head of the line.

Sunny Dayz · 17-06-2020 4:35pm

rainbow kirby wrote: »

There are some quite scary people out there! :eek:

I've done a whole pile of tourism but was really getting to enjoy being at my local ones regularly before lockdown hit.

I was the opposite. I found I was at my local almost every week either running or volunteering and as a family we said we were going to do some parkrun tourism this year. We had two already planned for March & April (Derry & Edinburgh), we were going to do Mount Lucas the next free Sat that came up. And then we were each going to pick one to organise a weekend away around. Sure look, there's always next year....

robinph · 17-06-2020 4:54pm

Would love to have a regular "home" event again. We were rarely doing the same event multiple weeks in a row because of avoiding events due to potential overcrowding on some weeks, or them not being suitable for me going at a certain pace with the buggy, or another event having the weather too windy or too much mud on another week or needing to make it back to somewhere else by X o'clock or different people from our old home event having a milestone at one of the multiple local events.

Nice problem to have, but I miss the just going along to the same event and chilling out afterwards without the rush to get anywhere else and knowing that you'll meet this person or that person for a chat, or a "race". Not having been along to running club training in years due to scheduling I really miss the social aspect around running.

TaurenDruid · 17-06-2020 6:04pm

robinph wrote: »

Yep, but there are people who fly half way round the world in order to run at the first parkrun in Japan, or find a friend with a private pilots license to fly them to a parkrun on the other side of the country that is actually around an airfield so they can be the first to fly directly to an event and get their landing fees refunded by the airfield, or have to go extreme distances in order to run an event starting with a particular letter of the alphabet.

There is a whole other level of obsession out there, which you are probably best of not knowing about.

Gas. My parkrun tourism thus far:

* The next parkrun over to my home run - run once. Keep meaning to go back cos they've low numbers and I had my first and only top 10 finish there!

* Three other nearby parkruns - once or twice each.

* Killarney (Muckross) parkrun when away for a (non-running!) weekend with a big group. Don't know how I managed it, cos we were up drinking until the wee hours.

* Going to Australia on holiday with every intention of getting to parkruns in Sydney and Brisbane, then completely forgetting to do so once I was there.

Not very impressive as parkrun tourism goes!

Gael23 · 20-06-2020 7:45am

Will we be seeing some of the smaller events get going in the next few weeks? The big ones won’t be back for a while bough

Ted_YNWA · 20-06-2020 7:49am

Gael23 wrote:

Will we be seeing some of the smaller events get going in the next few weeks? The big ones wonâ€™t be back for a while bough

It will be all back, or none at any country level.

If it was down to size, there would be an influx of neighbouring 'tourists' going to the smaller events.

Parkrun..

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